Thursday, October 30, 2014

Using Plant DNA, Manufacturing "Finger Prints" to ID Coutnerfeit Electronics

“There’re a lot of chiselers out there,” Vice Adm. Mark Harnitchek sighs. Congressional angst over counterfeit parts has understandably focused on ersatz electronics, many of them from much-mistrusted China, but as head of the Defense Logistics Agency, Harnitchek has found fakes in everything from air filters to rubber tubing. “There’re folks that counterfeit those, believe it or not,” Harnitchek told me.

That’s why DLA is expanding its war against fakery to new fronts by funding research into two very different types of authentication technology from two very different companies. Applied DNA Science repurposes plant DNA as an invisible, indelible seal of authenticity. ChromoLogic LLC‘s promising but less-proven technique uses digital cameras to scan microscopic patterns on the surface of materials, patterns which give each manufacturer a unique fingerprint.

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